LUMOTEC IQ Fly senso plus

[james01]

May I add yet another question?

Do I have to fit dynamo rear light + IQ Fly + Schmidt 28 dynohub; or can I just fit IQ Fly + Schmidt 28 dynohub, and use my existing battery LED rear light, or will this damage the light or hub?

It's probably risky not to, unless Busch & Muller specifically state that it's OK. The Peter White website in America reports overheating failures of the Inoled LED headlamps caused by owners failing to connect to rear lamps, so the same may apply to the IQ Fly. To be fair to the designers, dynamo headlamps are built to operate on 2.4 watts, not 3 watts. Not fitting a rear lamp means that constant high speed running (long descents) can damage the lamp. The old argument for omitting the rear lamp - trying to maximise headlamp output - has become almost irrelevant with the spectacular performance of these LED lights.

[piedwagtail91]

the dlumotec led lights are ok to be used without a rear light, or at least thats what i was told, and i've used one regularly with no problems yet.
i would have thought these would have the same circuits built in as well.
amba marketing are the people who import them and would be the best people to ask.
they always give a prompt reply. http://www.amba-marketing.com/
i've just emailed to find out.

[Ruth Casson - Amba]

Hello. We are the UK distributor for Busch + Muller. I will try and answer some of the questions raised on this thread.

1. B+M front halogen lights. These are supplied with 2.4W bulbs as standard with the expectation that a rear 0.6W capacity light will be used as well. If you are only going to run the front light then upgrade the bulb to a 3.0W bulb.

2. DLumotec range. Usually for hub or bottle, not both except for the DLumotec Senso Plus which can be used for either.

2. IQ Led lights. These lights can be run with or without a rear dynamo light. BUT you do have to buy the version to suit either hub or bottle.

3. Senso mode. The Senso mode is designed to recognise motion and darkness together so Chris's explanation is correct in so far as it goes.

4. IQ lights are available now in the UK. You can refer to our retailer list to see who is a B+M stockist - denoted by having the B+M logo next to the shop details. http://www.amba-marketing.com/dealers.php

Hoping that this has cleared up some questions. Please feel free to call or email us if you have a question.

Ruth Casson
Director
Amba Marketing (UK) Limited
Tel: 01392 829903

[RJC]

If you are using a led dynamo rear light you may find that you can use a 3W bulb up front. This is what I have done on a bike with a 3W hub dynamo and it works fine. In fact the original 2.4W bulb blew the first time I rode fast downhill.
As an experiment I powered the rear led light with 6V DC and it took about 0.2W once the standlight capacitor had charged up. This was a Busch&Muller single red led mudguard mounting dynamo light. Obviously a proper test would be to use an AC source.

Robin

[ibrahim]

I've just got the IQ Fly Senso Plus in the mail. Mounted it with the bottle dynamo until I get a dyno hub wheel built.

As I have it now, I've connected the bottle to the light via the spades, because the bottle already had connector cables with spades on.

According to the manual, that's ok, but I don't really see the point of the inbuilt cable, which I'll now have to roll up and tape to the housing.

It doesn't reallly make sense to have to have an inbuilt cable if the spades work ok, and it doesn't make sense to have inbuilt cables on a dynamo light as it might break/be torn.

Why not simply have spade connectors alone, instead of both inbuilt and spades?

Anyway, apart from that it's a great light, haven't tried it in anger, but just spinning the wheel with my hands makes it give off a blinding light of much higher intensity and of a much better pattern than the old light (Axa round halogen)

[james01]

It doesn't reallly make sense to have to have an inbuilt cable if the spades work ok, and it doesn't make sense to have inbuilt cables on a dynamo light as it might break/be torn.

Why not simply have spade connectors alone, instead of both inbuilt and spades?

)

I agree. many modern dynamo components are designed with wires emerging from sealed lamps/generators. In the rough & tumble of the real world, things get torn & you've had it.
I have an old Soubitez bottle dynamo with a simple "guillotine" cable connector, a spring-loaded movable spade with a hole for the cable. You push the spade to align the holes, insert cable & release - job done, good solid connection. Removal is dead simple & can be repeated ad infinitum.

[johnmac]

Does this new light make the Solid 1203D obsolete?

[Ruth Casson - Amba]

ibrahim

You mention that you have wired the IQ Fly Senso Plus to a bottle dynamo. DO NOT use it in this set up. This version of the light is for use only with hub dynamos. You will see clearly on the packaging in English that this light is for use with hub dynamos. If you use it with a bottle dynamo it will not work and there will be no warranty due to misuse.

Regards

Ruth Casson
Director
Amba Marketing (UK) Limited
Tel: 01392 829903

[natmat]

Does this new light make the Solid 1203D obsolete?

I don't know about the Solidlights as a comparison, but I've tried the Supernova E3 recently (the '07 model will the older Luxeon - not Seoul - LED) and I would say the Fly provide a better light to cycle by. Maybe the E3 is 'brighter' as they claim, but then Lux and Lumens can be used misleadingly.

I find the Fly's lens gives a really good cutoff of the beam that's produced and so the rectangular, illuminted area focuses all the light exactly where you want it. In comparison, the E3 produces a bright spot (not too wide, not too narrow) beam (unshaped, rather like a torch), but less useful that the Fly. I guess the 'lumens'output of the E3 is better, but the cycle-usable lux of the resutant beam is, in my opinion, better with the Fly.

However, the BIG plus of the E3 is the rear lights/LEDs, they're awesomely bright and really worth having.

[natmat]

Another thought; having just looked at the solidlights, it appears that it just has the LED and 'standard' collimator lens assembly. These lens come in 4, 6, 15 and 25 degree spread, but none 'shape' the output beam in the same was as the Fly's indirect reflector does. By shape, I mean that the Fly's beam is more like that of a car's headlamps, being clipped at the top and therefore not illuminating mid-air.

So, I would think the solidlights'beam pattern (like the E3) is not as good as the Fly... if someone can correct me then please do, I too am interested to know. For me I've found the Fly to be the dynamo-powered lighting winner.

Nat.

[james01]

ibrahim

You mention that you have wired the IQ Fly Senso Plus to a bottle dynamo. DO NOT use it in this set up. This version of the light is for use only with hub dynamos. You will see clearly on the packaging in English that this light is for use with hub dynamos. If you use it with a bottle dynamo it will not work and there will be no warranty due to misuse.

Regards

Ruth Casson
Director
Amba Marketing (UK) Limited
Tel: 01392 829903

Ruth,
Although it says this on the package, surely this lamp can be used with a bottle provided the switch is kept in the "on" (not "senso") position? It seems to me that the only risk is where a bottle is used in daylight with the switch accidentally left in "senso" mode. The headlamp would be automatically deactivated because of high ambient light, and the rear light could be overloaded & damaged.

[RJC]

Are the spade connectors meant for connecting to the rear lamp? If you do this you will be bypassing the on/off/senso switch. Not really an issue with a bottle dynamo. There might be other issues though.

Robin

[james01]

Just to complicate matters, Inoled seem to have upstaged Busch & Muller with a brand new upgrade to their Inoled 10 & 20, the Inoled Extreme, RRP €104.95. Does anyone know of any test reports yet on this light?
http://www.inoled.com/00000098b40d7b925 ... a49d02.php

[ibrahim]

ibrahim

You mention that you have wired the IQ Fly Senso Plus to a bottle dynamo. DO NOT use it in this set up. This version of the light is for use only with hub dynamos. You will see clearly on the packaging in English that this light is for use with hub dynamos. If you use it with a bottle dynamo it will not work and there will be no warranty due to misuse.

Regards

Ruth Casson
Director
Amba Marketing (UK) Limited
Tel: 01392 829903

Is there any logical/rational reason for this? As you state above, the Dlumotec Senso Plus can be used for either, so I am very surprised that you state that the Lumotec IQ Fly Senso Plus can't.

My bottle dynamo supplies 6v 3w, so does my dynamo hub. The dotbike.com and the B&M sites both state that 'any normal 6V dynamo can be used'. Of course, if you use an un-switched dynamo with a dynamo hub, you'd have the light on all the time, but using a switched light with a bottle dynamo should work, unless you're daft enough to set the switch to 'off'.

I've emailed B&M about it.

[delthebike]

Are the spade connectors meant for connecting to the rear lamp? If you do this you will be bypassing the on/off/senso switch. Not really an issue with a bottle dynamo. There might be other issues though.

Robin

I have just tried this with my IQ LED Fly senso plus. Swapping rear light to different spade group does not bypass the switch.
Edit: Just to clarify this is with the light wired up to a SON hub using the inbuilt wire.